A problem has arisen with the highly polished surfaces now being provided on the operative faces of magnetic heads as well as on the flexible magnetic media coating. Both the media and the head include the highly polished contact surfaces in order to diminish undo wear and improve output electrical signals when the media, such as the magnetic tape, is pulled over the magnetic head to read and write information to and from the magnetic tape. However, these highly polished surfaces cause a problem when the tape is stationary or near stationary, as is required in the start and stop operations standard in data processing systems. The two highly polished surfaces cause the tape to "wring-in" and thereby cling to the magnetic head face. Present day high-speed and high-throughput data processing systems require a rapid start of the tape when the start command is given after the tape is stopped at the position required for the next block of data information to be obtained from the tape. With the highly polished surfaces, the tape clings to the operative face of the head and prevents a rapid start until the tape is in motion and an air bearing is built up between the two highly polished surfaces.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a means for overcoming the clinging of the tape to the head to permit a rapid start and stop operation of the data processing system.